The Christmas Album
by PurpleAsteroid
Summary: On some occasions, you pull out what Alfred has dubbed "the Christmas Album", which contains memories of each Christmas you have spent together with your best friends. "Even now, when all of you had your own families, made new friends, traveled new places or went back to hometowns. The album would always be there, for all of you. "


F.A.C.E. x Reader

On the rare occasions that all of you got together, without a fight, the automatic thing to do was to take out what Alfred had dubbed as "the Christmas Album".

Like, for example, today. It was the afternoon a couple of days after Christmas; where you hadn't quite yet finished off all the food and there was still a sort of Christmas-y feeling in the air. Maybe that was, again, only Alfred, but then maybe he had influenced you with it too. The radios hadn't stopped blaring Christmas songs and people hadn't stopped singing along or going around giving late presents.

Today, on an afternoon where the snow gently spiraled down and the sky was a pale bluish-gray, all five of you sat down in the living room with mugs of warm, sweet hot chocolate. You sat, cross-legged on the shaggy carpet with the Christmas album in your lap; Matthew hugging his huge stuffed polar bear beside you. Alfred was sitting upside down on the sofa, much to Arthur's disdain, with his feet hanging off the back. On either side of him sat Arthur and Francis, both leaning over to get a better look at the album.

The Christmas tree, which was staying there in its corner until Arthur got annoyed of it, was practically mummified in Christmas lights. Your and Alfred's idea. "What about lights only for this Christmas?"

And, well, no one had any objections with it so you went ahead, leaving all other decorations such as tinsel and balls in the attic for until next year.

Multicolored lights were dancing off the walls and the warm glow of the lamp bathed the room in soft gold. Perfect and cozy. In no time at all you lose yourselves in the memories, fondly recalling each and every one of them.

It begins with a picture of the five of you as kids no older than six. "Back when Arthur was cute," Alfred would snort, earning him a look of mock indignation from Francis; "Are you saying he still isn't?"

Sometimes, the crushing between those three was so blatantly obvious it drove you and Matthew to three shades of red. Ah, yes, there were several more times that Alfred and Francis had hit on Arthur. It would get very entertaining...but we're getting ahead of ourselves.

The first Christmas you had together was the first year of grade school. You five had immediately clicked and became best friends. Christmas came around and they spent a couple of hours at your house. The pictures were of a familiar background, your old house's living room.

Wrappers were strewn everywhere, presents like toys and clothes piled around you on the white sofa. All of you faced the camera wearing goofy grins (well, Arthur had managed a small smile anyway). You remember the gushes of "aww" and "what adorable little dears" from proud parents and being annoyed. Looking back, well...huh, they were right.

The next pictures carry little changes. Gradual changes, you always notice. Mostly height, maybe setting; there was a time you had _all _spent Christmas in town.

Still, mostly, you all stay the same. Alfred obnoxiously cheerful, Matthew sweet and shy, Arthur being the grump he always is, Francis with those sly smirks, and you, well-you were you.

Over the years you grew closer to each other, more and more pictures are added every year. Occasionally there are a few lose pictures, taken in birthdays and other times like that. Nobody bothers to remove them, though. Some pages are nothing but cards, pressed flowers, random memorabilia.

Oftentimes you open up to where you had two class pictures kept; one was taken in a Christmas party years ago. You all try to name your other classmates, sometimes bringing up weird quirks about them.

"Wasn't this the guy who slept in class a lot and really liked cats?"

"Ohh, oh, I remember-this was the crossdresser guy!"

"Remember that time Ivan accidentally hit you with a pipe?"

Most of them were still friends with their old classmates now. Some kept minimal contact; some had returned back to their home countries. You had always thought it funny how many people from different nationalities were in your old school-some came from countries you didn't even know were there, until you met them of course.

Francis, for example. When not with the four of you he was with two other friends of his: Gilbert and Antonio. Antonio and Arthur didn't really get along when you were still kids but then a lot of people liked Antonio. Gil, however...well, he was fun, but personally you thought he could tone down the loudness sometimes. He hits on Matthew sometimes, but whether as a joke or not you have no idea. As an older-brother figure, Francis disagrees with this.

Other Christmases were celebrated with other people. Gil and Toni, sometimes, who brought the Vargas brothers along (mainly because he was going out with Lovino, you suspected).

A few Christmases, about every four years, you'd spent with Arthur's _huge _family. "Reunions," he'd mutter as doting aunts and uncles pinched his cheeks. None of you let him live those moments down; you had a picture of him being kissed on the cheek by an older relative, and it had a whole page to itself in the album.

You especially found a little boy named Peter adorable, though he plainly irritated Arthur. Then there was this pretty dark girl named Michelle who came from a little island in Seychelles, a quiet Asian boy named Leon, and his half-brothers from the UK. One from Scotland, one from Ireland. Arthur himself came from England. Francis usually made jokes about this.

Of course, not all Christmases were spent together. Some pages held pictures of your holidays spent separately. But no matter where you went, all of you, be it back in France or Canada or America or England, or any other country they were spending the holidays in, you always brought back pictures.

Always.

Alfred practically declared it law. Not even Arthur argued with him on that. It seemed they were all intent on keeping the album complete; every Christmas recorded without fail. Years and years, a decade and a little over a half years of friendship. A bond, a strong rope that, like the famed red string of fate, did sometimes tangle, but never snapped.

So, you spent the afternoon with your best friends, constantly refilling the hot chocolate until Francis had to make another batch, poring over the pictures again and again, tirelessly. There were laughs, there were misted eyes, there were fond voices. Little inside jokes, ones you got and ones you didn't.

At some point in time that afternoon you decided to add in the pictures that had already been developed. There weren't much, just some pictures of another Christmas party. Still, soon enough, the living room was soon a mess of colored paper and glue and pictures. You know you'd regret that later, picking off bits of paper from the shaggy carpet.

Even as the world outside dimmed and the quiet gray afternoon turned to twilight, none of you set the album down. That is, until Arthur dragged all of you (well, Alfred and Francis, at least) by the ears to the dinner table and made you sit down with the terrifying threat to feed you his cooking if none of you cooperated.

"I refuse to die only a few days after Christmas!" Francis cried at Arthur's shoulder, wrenching himself from the fingers on his ear. "And _ still need to go get a boyfriend and when she does who'll be there to protect her and give her advice?"

"Advice?" Arthur's face contorted in terror, and you flushed pink. Beside you, Matthew was trying to hold in a laugh. "_You_? You perverted, twisted fu-"

Ah, yes, a normal night with the people you practically considered family. They may not be perfect, but still. They were, to you, the best anyone could ask for.

It didn't stop there, though.

The Christmas Album would become an important part of all of you. It was, of course, accompanied by about half a dozen other albums. For childhood, for birthdays, for random stuff...the list went on. It quickly became the kind of thing you five showed off at reunions and parties like proud parents showing off their kids' piano recital pictures.

The pictures eventually filled up the whole thing, at some point years and years later. Alfred had been so happy at the achievement. He had bought another one, the exact same style as the first one, and you wasted no time decorating it and filling it up with more pictures.

You grew, and grew, and changed and changed. All five of you, through the years. Still, what remained present this time was the picture of all of you by the Christmas tree in your living room. There was always at least one picture of that, no matter where you spent the rest of Christmas. You'd always find a few seconds to take that picture.

Gradually, new people got into the scene.

New people, meaning boyfriends and girlfriends and...and...eventually, spouses and kids. Yes, that last one was correct. The second Christmas album was mostly as family. The five of you, and spouses and kids all crammed into on picture. Under the Christmas tree, holding both Christmas albums. There was the dancing of the colored lights, the lamplight turning blond heads into gold.

And then, you all watched as your own kids grew, the changes evident in the pictures in the album. All taken on snowy winter nights, on a holiday meant for family and loved ones. Cards, notes, drawings fill up the album. Your kids know, of course, all of them do. They love starting from the beginning of the first one, from cover to cover, and work their way into where the second one stops.

And until now, they sit on the shelf in easy reach of curious children and nostalgic adults.

Even now, when all of you had your own families, made new friends, traveled new places or went back to hometowns. The album would always be there, for all of you.

And if you hardly got to see each other all year, well, there was Christmas. So it didn't matter, as long as you were all together for that special day.


End file.
